Personal Income and Outlays, April 2022

Historical release narrative reproduced from the official public-domain U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis source. Statistical tables, charts, standard technical appendices and administrative material are omitted; formatting is adapted for reading. Figures retain the release's original vintage and may have been revised. Consult the linked source for the complete release and current data.

Personal income increased $89.3 billion (0.4 percent) in April, according to estimates released today by the Bureau of Economic Analysis (tables 3 and 5). Disposable personal income (DPI) increased $48.3 billion (0.3 percent) and personal consumption expenditures (PCE) increased $152.3 billion (0.9 percent).

Real DPI increased less than 0.1 percent in April and Real PCE increased 0.7 percent; goods increased 1.0 percent and services increased 0.5 percent (tables 5 and 7). The PCE price index increased 0.2 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index increased 0.3 percent (table 9).

The increase in personal income in April primarily reflected an increase in compensation and personal income receipts on assets that were partly offset by a decrease in proprietors' income (table 3). Within compensation, the increase reflected increases in both private and government wages and salaries. The increase in personal income receipts on assets was led by personal dividend income. The decrease in proprietors' income was led by nonfarm income.

The $152.3 billion increase in current-dollar PCE in April reflected an increase of $48.6 billion in spending for goods and a $103.7 billion increase in spending for services (table 3). Within goods, increases were widespread across all components except for gasoline and other energy goods; spending for motor vehicles and parts was the leading contributor to the increase. Within services, increases were also widespread across all components, led by food services and accommodations as well as housing and utilities. Detailed information on monthly PCE spending can be found on Table 2.3.5U.

Personal outlays increased $155.3 billion in April (table 3). Personal saving was $815.3 billion in April and the personal saving rate—personal saving as a percentage of disposable personal income—was 4.4 percent (table 1).

The PCE price index for April increased 6.3 percent from one year ago, reflecting increases in both goods and services (table 11). Energy prices increased 30.4 percent while food prices increased 10.0 percent. Excluding food and energy, the PCE price index for April increased 4.9 percent from one year ago.

BEA will release results from the 2022 annual update of the National Economic Accounts, which includes the National Income and Product Accounts as well as the Industry Economic Accounts, on September 29, 2022. This update will present revised statistics for GDP, GDP by Industry, and gross domestic income that cover the first quarter of 2017 through the first quarter of 2022. Updated monthly personal income and outlays will be released on September 30, along with the August 2022 estimate. For details, refer to Information on Updates to the National Economic Accounts.

Updates to Personal Income and Outlays

Estimates have been updated for October through March. For October through December, estimates for compensation, personal taxes, and contributions for government social insurance reflect the incorporation of the most recently available fourth-quarter wage and salary data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages program. Revised and previously published changes from the preceding month for current-dollar personal income, for current-dollar and chained (2012) dollar DPI and PCE, and for PCE and PCE, excluding food and energy price indexes are shown below for February and March.